Battle of Hengyang
The Battle of Hengyang (Chinese: 衡阳保卫战) 23 June – 8 August 1944 was fought between Chinese and Japanese forces in mainland China during World War II. Although the city fell, Japanese casualties far exceeded the total number of Chinese troops defending the city. It has been described as "the most savage battle ever fought in the smallest battlefield with the greatest casualties in the military history of the world".[7] Japanese military historians equate it to the most arduous battle in the Russo-Japanese War, calling it a "Battle of Ryojun in South China".[8] A major Chinese newspaper of the day compared it to the Battle of Stalingrad.[9]
Strategic importance[edit]
Hengyang in Hunan Province lies in an oval basin surrounded by mountains and hills, with Guangdong and Guangxi to the south, Guizhou and Yunnan to the west, and Jiangxi and Shanghai to the east. The city proper sits where two rivers merge into the Xiang River, a major tributary of the Yangtze. Such a unique geographical position destined Hengyang to be a strategic crossroads throughout China's history, a must for industrial and commercial enterprises to use as a home base and for military forces to control.[10]
In the 1930s, the Japanese occupation of major East Coast cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, and Wuhan forced China's industries to relocate inland. The Chiang Kai-shek government chose Hengyang to be a light industry center. By the beginning of 1944, both banks of the Xiang River for ten miles had been built up with mills and factories. The bustling commercial activities brought the city the nickname "Little Shanghai".[11]
That same decade, two major railway lines, Wuhan-Guangzhou and Hunan-Guangxi, were built that met in Hengyang, further elevating the strategic importance of the city as a gateway to Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan and Sichuan. A Chinese failure to hold the city could result in the Japanese crossing into Guilin and driving west towards Guizhou, from where they could directly attack Chongqing, thus placing the Chinese wartime capital and military headquarters in imminent danger.[12]
Allied leadership[edit]
As Japan was launching its daring Ichigo Operation in China, Chinese supreme commander Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek was mired in struggles on almost every front. A memorandum by the Office of Strategic Services on April 4, 1944 describes Chiang as being "under great strain", and even "half crazy".[20]
Even before Pearl Harbor, the US government had started quietly helping China by sending the American Volunteer Group (AVG) of aviators and technicians, led by Claire Chennault and popularly known as the Flying Tigers. Once the U.S. had entered the war, American General Joseph Stilwell became Chief of Staff to Chiang Kai-shek and U.S. Commander of the China-Burma-India Theater (CBI). Tensions soon began to rise. A defeat of the Allied troops in Burma, including the Chinese 5th and 6th Armies, said by Chiang to be China's crack troops, made Stilwell obsessed with avenging his failure. In most of his tenure in the CBI, only Burma was his priority.[21]
In the months leading up to the epic Battle of Hengyang, Americans stepped up their pressure on the Chiang government for two things: sending his Yunnan forces to Burma and allowing American observers to go to Yanan to make contact with Chinese Communist leaders.[22] Roosevelt's April 3 letter was quickly followed by General Marshall's instruction to Stilwell that air supplies over "The Hump" from British India would cease if Chiang did not order his Yunnan forces to move into Burma. The pressure finally became unbearable, and on April 15, 1944, two days before Ichigo began, the Yunnan forces, one of Chiang's best-equipped and best-trained armies, left China.[23]
Chiang Kai-shek's only consolation and trust lay in Chennault,[24] who by now had become the head of the newly-established U.S. 14th Air Force in China. Chennault's antagonism towards Stilwell was fully displayed in his letter to Roosevelt on 26 January 1944, urging that Stilwell be replaced.[25] As the 14th Air Force exerted every bit of its strength but failed to halt the aggressively advancing Japanese troops, Chennault blamed Stilwell for not allocating enough materials to his forces.[26][27]
The total collapse of Chinese armies in the Henan Campaign and rapid fall of Changsha exposed Chiang Kai-shek's perilous state on the home front. The military was rife with corruption, low morale, disobedience, lack of discipline, top officers deserting their command posts, and even high-ranking commanders disobeying his orders.[28] While losing control of his own armies, the Generalissimo also was losing the trust of the U.S. On 6 July, with the Battle of Hengyang raging, President Roosevelt telegraphed Chiang Kai-shek, requesting him to make Stilwell the commander of all Chinese and American forces.[29]
In the meantime, the supreme commanders of China's Ninth, Seventh, and Fourth War Areas, together with high-ranking politician Li Jishen, were also plotting to seize power from Chiang Kai-shek. The idea of setting up a sort of separate government was thrown out early in 1944 and fermented through spring and summer. Those initiators informed Stilwell and asked him for American equipment, to which Stilwell agreed.[30]
It was in the midst of this tough, complicated wrangling among the leadership that the Battle of Hengyang was fought.
American involvement[edit]
By the Lei River on the east side of Hengyang lay an airfield, first built in 1934. In March 1943 when the American 14th Air Force was formally established, the airfield was significantly upgraded for heavy bombers and became a base for the Chinese-American Composite Wing (Provisional), who inherited the nickname "Flying Tigers". At its peak, Hengyang Airfield held 400 planes including bombers, fighters, and photo reconnaissance, with more than 2,000 pilots and ground personnel.[31]
As early as 6 May 1944, when the Allies became better aware of the Japanese military goals, the Hengyang squadron pilots started extensive and intensive bombing and strafing missions. For six weeks, they bombed Japanese military storage areas, supply barges and gunboats; strafed Japanese troops; and engaged in dogfights. On June 17, the Japanese bombed the Hengyang air base heavily, and the squadron was ordered to evacuate. They flew back to bomb the base on June 22, the day before the Battle of Hengyang formally began, so it could not be used by the advancing Japanese troops.[32][33]
The 14th Air Force continued to fly missions all through the Battle of Hengyang, attacking Japanese supply lines along the Yangtze and Xiang rivers and supporting Chinese defensive positions around Hengyang, taking a heavy toll of Japanese. Japanese air strength had to be dedicated to defensive activity, denying air cover to front line Japanese forces.[34] The Chinese defenders agreed: "The American-Chinese Air Force dominance in the air during the daytime gave Japanese troops no choice but to attack at night, which made offensives more difficult. ... Hengyang would not have held out for 47 days without Chennault and his Flying Tigers."[35]
The ground troops defending Hengyang especially credited Brigadier General Earl S. Hoag, who commanded the India–China Division, Air Transport Command. Visiting Hengyang a week before the battle on a supply inspection tour, Hoag put the Chinese in direct radio communication with Zhijiang Airport (Chinese: 芷江机场), which could relay their messages to Chongqing.[36]
Also active and contributing to the city before the battle were American missionaries and medical staff working at Ren Ji Hospital, run by the Presbyterian church.[37] The hospital evacuated at the beginning of June 1944, when Hunan Campaign had already begun and roads and transportation facilities were extremely congested.[38] The equipment and medicines left behind, particularly sulfa drugs, greatly helped wounded soldiers to recover fast, an indirect factor in Hengyang holding out for so long.[39]
Tenth Army, Chinese National Revolutionary Army[edit]
Ordered to defend Hengyang was the 10th Army of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army, formally established in 1940. (The Chinese word "军" is usually translated as "army", although it is only the size of an army corps in the military of other countries. The Kuomintang Order of Battle entry in the Pacific War Online Encyclopedia has a discussion of this.[40]) The Army was built on the foundation of the 190th Division that had won the title "Division of Bravery and Loyalty" in the Battle of Wuhan in 1938.[41] Having played a decisive role in the victory at the Third Battle of Changsha at the end of 1941, the 10th Army was awarded the honorary title "Mt. Tai Army".[42] Mt. Tai, one of the Five Sacred Mountains in China, symbolizes reverence and respect.
Lieutenant General Fang Xianjue, commander of the 10th Army, was also well-known to Hunan people. In the fiercest life-and-death moment during the Third Battle of Changsha, Fang, then a major general commanding the 10th Division, wrote his "last" letter to his wife after promising the Supreme Commander of the Ninth War Area, General Xue, to hold his battle lines for a week. The letter was published under the heading "Determined to Defend Changsha to his Death, Commander Fang Made his Will" on the first page of Changsha Daily on 2 January 1942.[43]
Fang's promotion in 1942 was resented by 190th Division Deputy Commander Zhu, a General Xue confidante. This sowed seeds of trouble for Fang.[44] In the Battle of Changde the following year, the 10th Army failed in a rescue mission mainly because Zhu delayed carrying out Fang's orders. Flying into a rage, Fang threatened to execute Zhu.[45] This offended Xue, who then convinced Chiang Kai-shek to remove Fang from his command. But when Japan launched the Hunan Campaign, Fang's replacement changed his mind and declined the new appointment. Xue had to ask Fang to resume his post, but Fang refused. On the night of 29 May 1944, Chiang Kai-shek called Fang directly from Chongqing, ordering him to resume his command and deploy to Hengyang immediately. He should prepare to defend the city for ten days to two weeks.[46][47]
At the time of its deployment, the 10th Army was still undergoing the process of replenishment. It had suffered immense losses, including the death of the commander of its 10th Division, in the Changde battle. The 190th Division was being reorganized, with only one regiment complete and the other two waiting for new recruits. One regiment of the 54th Division that happened to be stationed in Hengyang was ordered to take part in the defense under Fang's command. However, the commander, said to be close to General Xue, allowed two battalions to leave after Hengyang airfield was lost on the third day of the battle, leaving only a single battalion in Hengyang.[48][49]
Including in the combat strength of the 10th Army were also one field artillery battalion, one mountain artillery battalion, and one anti-tank company.[48][50] On paper, the corps had 4 divisions, but in reality it only had the strength of 7 regiments. Not included in the specific number of "16,275 men" provided by Hengyang historian Pei Xiao[3] was a battalion of 700 troops from the 46th Army deployed to nearby Hengshan on 14 June as a force under Fang's command to deter advancing Japanese.[51]
Civilian evacuation[edit]
On 18 June, Changsha fell. War was now imminent for Hengyang. General Fang decided to evacuate all Hengyang residents. This would avoid civilian casualties, allowing military forces to completely focus on combat fighting, and prevent traitors and spies from hiding amongst the civilian population. The 10th Army requested the railways to provide free rides, and staff members and companies directly under the Headquarters were sent to the railway stations to help the old and young to board. Within four days and nights, the 300,000 Hengyang population was evacuated.[65]
Reuters journalist Graham Barrow witnessed the evacuation of Hengyang in person: "I was lying asleep by the railway station one night in the rain, then I woke up because there was a train going by. They were stuffed on roofs and in boxcars. They had lashed themselves to couplings between cars. There were refugees on the cowcatcher in front; underneath the trains they had laid some boards across the rods between the wheels. They stretched their mattresses on the boards and there they were, lying one on top of the other between the rods and trains."[66]
Before the mass evacuation, the mayor of Hengyang called for volunteers to assist the 10th Army in their fighting. 32,000 Hengyang citizens signed up and stayed behind. The mayor organized them into six teams: transporting munitions, fixing damaged defense works, extinguishing fires, carrying stretchers, attending to wounded soldiers, and collecting corpses.[67]
Aftermath[edit]
After the battle, Hengyang was in a state of utter destruction, with most buildings levelled to the ground. The Catholic church near Huangcha Hill run by Italians had a painting of the Italian National Flag on its roof, and therefore escaped from being bombed. General Fang, Chief of Staff Sun, the four division commanders, and officers of the headquarters were imprisoned in that still intact church building. Other surviving soldiers and officers were detained in dozens of half-ruined government offices, schools, temples, bomb shelters, and even fortresses.[145][146]
On the afternoon of 8 August, Major Takeuchi (竹内), an envoy sent by the headquarters of the 11th Japanese Imperial Army, visited General Fang at the church. After reaffirming that the 10th Army did not surrender without conditions, Fang made three requests: guarantee the safety of all surviving soldiers and officers and allow them to rest, provide the wounded with medical treatment and bury the dead in Chinese tradition, and not break up the structure of the 10th Army by sending any men away from Hengyang. On behalf of Lieutenant General Yokoyama, Takeuchi expressed a high respect for the 10th Army: "Your bravery was not only admired by the Japanese troops here, but also known to our base and even the emperor back in Japan." He then readily accepted all of Fang's requests.[147][148]
In reality, there was neither food nor medicine. It happened to be the time of the year for the rice crop to mature in Hengyang, and so all captives, fit or wounded, so long as able to walk, were forced to go to the rice fields in the outskirts of the city to harvest. Only a small amount of what was brought in was allocated to Chinese prisoners, who threshed those few stalks of rice and cooked the grains into some kind of gruel to feed themselves. As for the seriously wounded, only officers above the rank of captain had the chance to see the doctor, and even then the treatment provided was rudimentary. Many soldiers and low-ranking officers were brutalized and killed by the Japanese or left to die from hunger or suicide.[147][149]
Shortly, Japan wanted to have the 10th Army restructured into an army called "Xianhe" (先和). The first character came from General Fang's name meaning "first" and the second character from Japanese meaning "harmony" or "peace". Knowing that the so called "Xianhe" Army would be a puppet unit under Japanese control, General Fang refused. Japan killed those hospitalized Chinese soldiers as a means to pressure Fang. Chief of Staff Sun however suggested that they should pretend to accept the proposal, play along, wait for the Japanese to relax their vigilance, and then seize the chance to escape.[150]
At the end of September, Xianhe Army was formally set up. Chief of Staff Sun and Commander Zhou of the 3rd Division sprang into action. On the stormy night of 9 October, they climbed out of the windows and escaped. They were followed on a later day by Division Commander Rao. Then on the night of 18 November, General Fang fled. With Japanese guards slacking off during that period, more and more men from the 10th Army escaped, and General Fang's getaway encouraged even more to flee, even those seriously wounded who had been contemplating ending their lives. At the same time, some previous Hengyang residents returned home. The residents' willingness and resourcefulness helped facilitate their beloved heroes breaking free from Japanese captivity. Of those who succeeded, many made their way back to join General Fang in Chongqing, and some others joined local guerrillas to resume their fight with Japanese.[151][152][153]
Erased from memory[edit]
For thousands of years, Chinese believed in the slogan "rather die than surrender". Early on the morning that Hengyang fell, General Fang took out his pistol to shoot himself, but it was knocked out of his hand by his aide-de-camp, who had been watching him closely.[163] Later, after Fang escaped and reported back to Chongqing, the rumors spread that Fang had surrendered, even though Chiang Kai-shek himself had proclaimed admiration for General Fang and his army.[164]
1949 saw Chiang Kai-shek take the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan, and with the bureaucracy went the whispers about General Fang. The subject of the Battle of Hengyang was thus avoided for decades. As late as 2006, the Museum of the History of the National Military Forces did not even mention the battle by name.[165]
Back in mainland China, on October 1, 1949, the Communist Party founded the People's Republic of China, and began to expunge from the record contributions made by the Nationalists in the resistance of Japan. All the educational and propagandistic organs toed the line that Chiang Kai-shek and his government had a policy of non-resistance. So, the generations born during and after WWII were all taught that only the Communists put up a fight. Some descendants of the Battle of Hengyang heroes would not even trust stories about their fathers sacrificing their lives in the Battle of Hengyang. For one, they never heard of the battle; and two, they believed that all Nationalist officers were cowardly and corrupt and would not willingly die for the cause of resistance.[166]
In 1950, Chiang Kai-shek's words "Hengyang Memorial City in Resistance of Japan" on the monument were chiseled out and replaced by "Hengyang Liberation".[167] Then in 1958, the ossuary and the white marble stela engraved with "Tomb of the soldiers of the 10th Army who died in Hengyang Battle" on Mt. Zhangjia were demolished to make way for a meteorological station. Further construction of dormitories, dining halls, and garages in the following two decades resulted in dead soldiers' bones being dug out, scattered, and shipped to wastelands in distant suburbs.[160]
Outside China, Chiang Kai-shek's troops' "furious resistance in Hengyang" remained little known, perhaps under the influence of "the memoirs of a bitter General Stilwell".[168] According to the diary by Yongchang Xu (Chinese: 徐永昌), head of the Department of Military Operations, in mid-July 1944, "President Roosevelt telegraphed Chiang Kai-shek, remarking that the Nationalist defeats in Henan and Hunan had damaged China's credibility and suggesting the appointment of General Joseph Stilwell to command Allied forces in China, including those of the Chinese Communists."[169] The time coincided with the second Japanese offensive in the Battle of Hengyang, when the 10th Army was fighting tooth and nail and repulsed Japanese charges hundreds of times, but their valor was not perceived. On the contrary, when "Chennault went directly to Stilwell, begging him to send a tiny amount of support, some 1,000 tons, to the Chinese front-line troops, Stilwell vetoed that plea with three words: 'Let them stew.'"[170] Consequently, the Battle of Hengyang never became well known in the English-speaking world.